Comedian Daniel Reskin

New York decides – Bernie or Hillary

New York, you get to decide the Democratic Presidential nominee – okay, the next President. Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. Way to drama! Now I get why you have Broadway! The center of American money and power is also our cultural crown jewel. The establishment and it’s fiercest challengers walking the same streets.

Fat cats and pizza rats.

I’m not going to bash Hillary like a mindless “Bernie Bro” (I prefer Bernard Brother), a concept from a campaign so disconnected from the youth that Hillary said she feels sorry for those uninformed group-thinking millennials that grew up with regular access to a portal of unlimited self-checking information. Hill has many good points, but the conversation inevitably leads to a “But, what about [draw card from pile labeled Questionable Record]?” Crime bills, gay rights, Wall St. ties, shady trade agreements, corporate interests… it’s a large stack of cards.

Hillary Clinton is as complicated as George W. was dumb*. She’s an entree with sides you don’t like, a free trip to somewhere you don’t want to go. We should not have to swallow lima beans in Wichita!

The best choice is often the simplest and Bernie is amazingly easy to figure out. He speaks clearly, doesn’t dance around points, and has a long, consistent record. He has an authenticity nobody else seems to have. Everyday the Internet shows us new information, video compilations, and fact-checking reports. Instead of being buried under tomorrow’s headlines, these stories go viral and grow in real time as events unfold. New questions about Hillary’s record, while Bernie’s grows more consistent. Panama Papers corruption scandal? Check the footage. Hillary supported the hollow trade deal while Bernie called it out for being the money laundering scandal it was. Bernie denounced it years ago, not after we all found out. This is the pattern.

You can’t fight the tide of culture forever. A great example is the series of anti-LGBT “freedom” laws being passed in the South. These discriminatory laws are the last attempts at holding onto ideas already defeated in the greater culture war. Immediately there was backlash from Bruce Springsteen cancelling tour dates, large companies like PayPal rerouting jobs, and the real pressure point – porn website blackouts. We are watching the struggles of those clinging tightest to the past as their values become less valuable. The old halls of power are showing their cracks. These laws will be overturned. Transgendered people will have flash mobs celebrating their ability to use the restroom that makes them feel comfortable enough to poop.

So too have the people decided that they are over a system of politics that has become a parody of itself. This doesn’t mean instant change, but the beginning of an impressively long chain of dominoes. One so long and intricate it could only have been set up for a commercial shoot or world record. A chain where the very last dominoes are sadly, people that will change their minds when their brains decompose.

Strategist Robert Reich said it politely – Both candidates are qualified. Hillary is best qualified to run our current government. Bernie is best qualified to run the government we need.

Bernie has lit up new generations (multiple) of voters despite constant money-fueled opposition from the media, his own party, and the system he fights to fix. Whatever happens, he has already changed the world. Every new election will have more and more candidates with Sanders tattoos. His message of common sense democratic socialism is out, and there’s no ignoring the way it has resonated. I don’t want to close with some defeatist line like “Even if he doesn’t win, he still wins.” but for a man who got into the race simply to raise issues nobody was talking about, thinking himself that he had no chance, he has won.

But let’s win, really. Change is inevitable, but the Internet is impatient.